What is your opinion on pacifiers?

Well?

 

I don't like 'em. It makes it harder to wean your baby from a bottle, and can make the teeth grow in crooked. My son hasn't been on one, and it was EASY to break him from the bottle.

 

i say they're just fine when used mindfully. If baby cries, and you find yourself reflexively reaching for the paci instead of your child, then you've found a problem. Also, it can easily become habit for the baby. My oldest paci-sucker no longer needed it by 6 months, and even then only sparingly.

 

I am fine with using the nuk as long as it is sparingly. If i cant make my baby happy with a boob or singing or rocking then i give him the nuk. my son only used the nuk for about a month then he refused it and he never took to a bottle either i think it is because i used them both very very rarely.

 

LOL, I was completely against them until I had my son. When he was one week old, I sent my hubby to go buy one because I couldn't get him to calm down at all, unless I just held him (dummy me didn't know about babywearing then). Well, he didn't like it at all and he never accepted a pacifier or a bottle...he won!! I doubt I will use one with my new baby either.

 

I think I'll try to avoid them. I had a pacifier until I was about 4 years old or something, and right now, I feel that that is waaaay to long. I don't have crooked teeth though, lucky me!

 

There has been significant research lately into SIDS, and they have found that sleeping with a pacifier in their mouths reduces instances of SIDS in newborns, as they sleep less deeply thanks to the sucking motion. Just an FYI, if that sways anyone's opinion.

 

I read that too

 

I've heard that another great reducer of SIDS is simply co-sleeping, though. Because being so much closer to mommy helps regulate breathing and heartbeat. It seems like co-sleeping would be very preferable to the paci... (Yeah, I guess you wouldn't have to choose, but I'm just saying that alone isn't necessarily enough to convince me they're a great thing.)

Then again, I might just be biased. One of my earliest memories is of asking my mom why my little bro and I never sucked on one (she took care of other babies during the day while I was little, and they always had 'em) and her telling me "Because they can make your teeth crooked when you grow up. Besides, you have a mommy with you all the time, and you know you can suck on me if you want!" lol. I'd honestly completely forgotten about that until just now...

 

My oldest son used one for a little while, but my twins never did. Honestly? I think it all boils down to your child. Am I a fan? Not really, but I'm certainly not a pacifier nazi either. The only reason I gave my oldest son one was because he wanted to suck constantly, whether he was hungry or not. He just liked to suck. But it wasn't difficult weaning him from it. He had no problem whatsoever, but then again, he's always been a go-with-the-flow kind of guy.

 

I have two children, and two very different stories to tell. Bottom line is, it depends on the mama and it depends on the kid.


My oldest child had major breastfeeding problems. Pacifiers only made her problems that much worse. She forgot how to latch properly, and without the normal hunger cues that full-term babies have, she would forget that she was hungry! And since she wasn't comforting herself on the breast instead, it made my already low supply that much lower.

My second daughter was born to nurse. Even though she was tongue-tied even moreso than her big sister, she had no problems at all latching on and nursing well. She nursed so well, and my milk came in so fast, that she never even lost any weight immediately after she was born!! She has always had a very high need to suck. But, unlike big sis, she couldn't figure out how to comfort nurse, and would get mad at my breasts when milk started coming out! So, we had a four-hour drive home from middle TN where she was born. We chose to do it in the middle of the night, hopefully the kids would sleep the whole way. Well... that didn't exactly work out as planned, and I did resort to giving her the pacifier in the car when I knew good and well that her tummy was full and that she only wanted to comfort suck. I never got any bigger than the 0-3 month size, and once she discovered her fingers were even better and more convenient, she never wanted the pacifier again.

 

sleeping next to mom, with her nipple in their mouth would work even better. Mom's breathing reminds baby to breathe, too. It's amazing, really.

 

my little one used a dummy as we call them mostly from about the age of seven months...she would fall asleep on my boob and if I took her off to put her down she would wake up so I learnt to slip one in instead. It would eventually drop out of her mouth and she would keep sleeping so it worked well and although she developed a bit of an attachment to one during the day and would carry it in her hand around she eventually gave it to some baby lambs at nana and granddads place and has never looked back. They are definitely an individual thing!

 

When I was first trying to bf Leane, I was totally opposed to them. Then my MIL took her for a couple hours when we were visiting her place a couple weeks after she was born, I walked outta my room and there she was with a soother....
Leane just loved to suck, and would always comfort nurse...if she didn't get mad first for my milk shooting out (littlerally), and was always mad.
I evetually had to let the bfing thing go and started to give her a soother, which made a world of difference.
She's 8 1/2 months old now, and still uses it occasionally, but hardly at all compared to what she used to. If she's really mad while I'm holding her, I give it to her...and she generally needs it to go to sleep, but mostly spits it out after a while. She's generally just weaning herself off it.

 

I've never really been a fan of them. But some kids just seem to need SOMETHING and if it's a pacifier or the thumb, I think I'd prefer the pacifier
love,
mom

 

My daughter has gone the thumb route. She's always been a sleepytime thumb sucker. Now she's getting to be about 3 and a half and she is still going to town on it. Though only when she is tired.

 

But, sleeping with mama with a boob in their mouths is even better.


IF pacis are used, they should be used sparingly, (only one of my 4 kids took one, and it was only for a few weeks, after my milk regulated and before she got used to my killer let down) and only after the milk supply has regulated. This can take more than 6 weeks in a new mom, and maybe slighly less time in a womyn who has breastfed an earlier baby.

Babies with breastfeeding problems, or a mom with a supply problem should really never use pacifiers, as it will almost always cause nipple confusion in these babies.

As for "weaning from the bottle" thing. I don't know, I never weaned a baby from one, all my kids went straight from the breast to self weaning when they no longer needed to suck.

I do, however, think it is a really bad idea to try to forcefully wean a baby from the bottle AND the Pacifier at the same time. These babies NEED some comfort and the two weanings at once is just too much for many babies.

 

Moire would suck 24/7 if I let her. It's to the point that if she falls asleep at my breast and I try to lay her down, she'll wake up and fuss.

She'll put her hands to her mouth like she's hungry but when I put her to my breast, she'll comfort suck. Always comfort suck.

So, without the pacifier, I'd never sleep and she'd never sleep except with my boob in her mouth.

 

Sometimes you have to do what works for the moment. Learning to nurse lying down, while you are also sleeping takes a few weeks to get down, but once you do it, you will get a lot more sleep. Until then, just watch for nipple confusion.